08.01.13
South London Healthcare NHS Trust report published
The final report of the Trust Special Administrator appointed to South London Healthcare NHS Trust has been published today by health secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The administrator was appointed last July under the Regime for Unsustainable NHS Providers to address the trust’s financial problems and secure sustainable provision of health services.
Hunt will now consider the final recommendations of the administrator before making a decision on the future of the trust by early February.
The report covers detailed scenarios for how services could be reconfigured in a more sustainable way, including disposing of land that has been identified as no longer required for the delivery of services, and the DH providing direct support to cover the excess costs of certain PFI contracts.
Its recommendations would result in a radical overhaul of services: the Queen Elizabeth hospital site in Woolwich would come together with Lewisham Healthcare NHS trust to create a new organisation, while King's College hospital NHS foundation trust would acquire the Princess Royal University hospital in Farnborough, near Bromley.
Administrator Matthew Kershaw states in the report: “I am confident that the recommendations in my report, if implemented, will succeed in delivering the scale of change that is needed in a way that previous attempts have failed.”
He added: “There are bound to be some who will remain deeply uncomfortable with what I am recommending to the Secretary of State. Change is often unsettling for people. proposed changes to much loved institutions, such as local hospitals, unite people who are concerned about what those changes would mean for them.”
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